Society for Photographic Education West
The Society for Photographic Education is a non-profit membership organization that provides a forum for the discussion of photography and related media as a means of creative expression and cultural insight. Through its interdisciplinary programs, services and publications, the Society seeks to promote a broader understanding of the medium in all its forms, and to foster the development of its practice, teaching, scholarship and membership. The west region includes California, Nevada and Hawaii.
—-
The 2011 SPE West Regional Conference “Survival” took place on November 18th and 19th in Santa Cruz, California at Cabrillo College. The conference theme, Survival was a timely one tied to budget cuts, program elimination, and lack of arts spending. What we wanted people to discuss throughout the conference was, how do you survive as educators, students, and most importantly, how do you survive as artists and imagemakers?
The board of SPE West and the volunteers worked hard to plan a diverse range of events at the conference including the Reversed Cyanotype Workshop taught by Martha Casanave, a Digital and Darkroom Hybrid Teaching Workshop with Eric Joseph from Freestyle Photographics, an Opening Party and Informal Portfolio Sharing at the Historic Cabrillo Sesnon House, Graduate Critiques, Professional and Student Portfolio Reviews, Panel Discussions and Presentations by Imagemakers both fine art and documentary. The Honored Educator this year was Brian Taylor, Professor and Department Chair at San Jose State University and our Keynote Speaker was Liz Cohen, Artist in Residence in Photography at Cranbrook Academy of Art. Sunday ended the conference with a small group of SPE members attending an inspiring tour of Edward Weston’s Home and Darkroom in the Carmel Highlands.
2011 SPE West Conference Co-Chairs were Jessica Hayes and Lesley Louden.
